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Rank Alton's coasters in terms of ride experience

Unsurprisingly, my list has changed again after my most recent visit to Towers…
(Moved rides in italics)
  1. Wicker Man (10/10, #5/91, no change)
  2. Oblivion (9/10, #9/91, no change)
  3. Thirteen (9/10, #11/91, +2) - This was running brilliantly on my most recent visit! I got multiple moments of surprising airtime on both rides, and I just found it so much fun! Yes, Thirteen may not be the most intense coaster out there, but I think it’s hugely fun, and it always puts a smile on my face; it’s grown on me a lot! I love the twisty bits and airtime of the outdoor section, and the indoor section with the drop track and backwards section are always a laugh and never fail to disappoint! It’s also blissfully smooth, as well!
  4. Rita (8/10, #15/91, no change)
  5. Nemesis (7/10, #22/91, -2) - I do enjoy Nemesis, don’t get me wrong, but I’m sorry to say that it doesn’t really strike a chord with me like some of the rides higher up do. I find myself appreciating it for what it is, but not really clicking with it. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like about it; it has a very creative layout, it’s very masterful in how it weaves itself in and out of the terrain, and it’s an enjoyable ride. However, it just a lacked a certain spark for me this visit, for whatever reason. It might not help that the ride seemed a little rougher on many of my rides this visit, with a couple of sections of slight headbanging and a definite judder in the train, but for whatever reason, it just didn’t really do it for me to the same extent as some of the park’s other rides. It might not help that inverts in general are not my favourite ride type nowadays, but even something like Nemesis Inferno seems to click with me discernibly more, so I’m not sure it’s that.
  6. Runaway Mine Train (6/10, #36/91, no change)
  7. Galactica (6/10, #44/91, +1) - I’m still not the biggest fan of this, but I seemed to enjoy it slightly more this visit. I don’t find the flying position particularly comfortable, and I’m not a fan of sustained “on your back” manoeuvres that this ride type seems to love (e.g. the fly to lie), but I’ve got to say that it is very smooth and bits of the layout are quite good fun; I particularly like the first drop and the ending sequence with all the little hops, bumps and turns! I’m afraid that the inherent discomfort of the flying position does keep it from going any higher, though.
  8. The Smiler (4/10, #60/91, -1) - I so sorely want to like Smiler. I go on it with an open mind every time, really hoping it’ll blow me away. I love the idea of the layout, there are some great moments (I like the two airtime hills; the second in particular is sublime!), and I do rather admire it as a feat of engineering. But as a ride? I’m afraid it doesn’t really do it for me. Both rides this visit seemed rather rough compared to some of my other recent rides on Smiler, but even putting aside the roughness, I’m not a huge fan of it. I find the layout slightly nauseating, and dare I say, the ride feels a tad boring; it just feels like I’m going through the motions on it for the most part, and the nausea I get from it doesn’t have much pay off. For some reason, the inversions and layout on this feel less interesting to me than on other multi-looping rides I’ve done, even though I actually rather like the layout on paper. I think I’ve finally put my finger on why I’m not a huge fan of Smiler, and I think it’s because the layout almost feels like a flat ride on coaster track, with the ride sensations and forces almost inducing a repetitive motion feeling like you get on a flat ride. I’m not huge on flat rides, so that might be why Smiler doesn’t appeal to me as much as it does to a lot of people. Smiler is admittedly an intense ride, but I’m sorry to say that it’s not one that overly appeals to me. I apologise if that’s controversial, but I just don’t really warm to it, I’m afraid.
  9. Spinball Whizzer (3/10, #73/91, no change)
  10. Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure (3/10, #77/91, no change)
 
Every time I see The Smiler as someone’s lowest ranked of the big 7 i can never believe it 😂

It’s fair enough though it’d be boring if we all had the same opinion. I do wonder if it’ll ever slide from my top Alton spot or not. I highly, highly doubt it with anything current - but who knows if future coasters could dethrone it.
 
Danscott22 said:
Every time I see The Smiler as someone’s lowest ranked of the big 7 i can never believe it 😂

It’s fair enough though it’d be boring if we all had the same opinion. I do wonder if it’ll ever slide from my top Alton spot or not. I highly, highly doubt it with anything current - but who knows if future coasters could dethrone it.
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Loop, loop,loop,loop,loop,loop...gets a bit boring, back and forth the pit, end over end.
When so many people say the two bunny hops are the best bits...
 
Danscott22 said:
Every time I see The Smiler as someone’s lowest ranked of the big 7 i can never believe it 😂

It’s fair enough though it’d be boring if we all had the same opinion. I do wonder if it’ll ever slide from my top Alton spot or not. I highly, highly doubt it with anything current - but who knows if future coasters could dethrone it.
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We're never going to agree with opinions that aren't the same as our own. Me and you think the smiler is the best at towers, so anyone that says it isn't will sound ludicrous to us. I've come to appreciate everyone's differences on coaster rankings on this forum. End of the day no opinion is fact so just because I think something doesn't make it true
 
I don’t think it sounds ludicrous when someone doesn’t like it as I can appreciate that some people find it rough - one fact I do disagree with though is that it’s boring. We can all disagree, you can love it, hate it, but I don’t know how it can be called boring. I think it has a good enough variety of inversions to make it interesting, plus the two airtime hills. The second airtime till is one of my favourite parts, but I also love the indoor inversion, the dive loops and the exit to the sea serpent roll.
 
Danscott22 said:
Every time I see The Smiler as someone’s lowest ranked of the big 7 i can never believe it

It’s fair enough though it’d be boring if we all had the same opinion. I do wonder if it’ll ever slide from my top Alton spot or not. I highly, highly doubt it with anything current - but who knows if future coasters could dethrone it.
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The problem with The Smiler is that if you get a rough ride on it there’s a lot of track and inversions to endure being rattled about on. If it’s riding well and you are in a good seat it’s fine but hit it at the wrong time or the wrong car or the wrong seat and you’ll know about it.
 
I mean it's not the smoothest of rides but to me the extent of its roughness seems to be exaggerated. I'm assuming plenty of people on here have been on national at pleasure beach. Now that is the definition of rough imo, absolutely vile at times. It makes smiler seem smooth as butter
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
The problem with The Smiler is that if you get a rough ride on it there’s a lot of track and inversions to endure being rattled about on. If it’s riding well and you are in a good seat it’s fine but hit it at the wrong time or the wrong car or the wrong seat and you’ll know about it.
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I didn't like Saw at all when I rode it back in April (painfully rough), so I'm even more anxious about riding Smiler now. At least Saw is short and only has 3 Inversions...
 
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1. Nemesis.
2. Wicker Man.
3. Rita.
4. Galactica
5. Oblivion
6. Spinball.
7. Thirteen.
8. RMT
9. Smiler
10. Octonauts

I'm yet to ride The Smiler this year. I joined the queue once in May only for it to break down. I've just lost all interest in riding it nowadays.
 
Ethan said:
I mean it's not the smoothest of rides but to me the extent of its roughness seems to be exaggerated. I'm assuming plenty of people on here have been on national at pleasure beach. Now that is the definition of rough imo, absolutely vile at times. It makes smiler seem smooth as butter
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Off topic I know, but have you done the National since the fixings, much better than it was last season, and quicker to the winning post too.
 
Skyscraper said:
I didn't like Saw at all when I rode it back in April (painfully rough), so I'm even more anxious about riding Smiler now. At least Saw is short and only has 3 Inversions...
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I wouldn’t personally say Smiler is as rough as Saw can be on a bad day (based on your description, it sounds as though you may have hit Saw on a bad day).

My last ride on Saw was actually quite tolerable, and probably smoother than my most recent rides on Smiler, but I’ve had rides on it in the past where I’ve had a literal pounding headache for ages afterwards. I’ve never had anything that bad from Smiler.
Danscott22 said:
I don’t think it sounds ludicrous when someone doesn’t like it as I can appreciate that some people find it rough - one fact I do disagree with though is that it’s boring. We can all disagree, you can love it, hate it, but I don’t know how it can be called boring. I think it has a good enough variety of inversions to make it interesting, plus the two airtime hills. The second airtime till is one of my favourite parts, but I also love the indoor inversion, the dive loops and the exit to the sea serpent roll.
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Perhaps boring was the wrong word; I do actually like the idea of the layout on paper, and I’ll agree that it’s very creative and has good parts… but I don’t know, something about how it rides makes it feel somewhat less interesting/appealing to me than other rides of a similar genre.

Perhaps it’s the fact that the layout gives me flat ride-style nausea, particularly in the first half; I don’t really know.

I won’t deny that Smiler is very good at what it does, but I think that what it does simply isn’t something that inherently appeals to me that much. I’m not a fan of Colossus either (that one sits even lower than Smiler for me; one thing I’ll give Smiler is that I like it a fair amount more than Colossus, and that its airtime hills actually offer airtime unlike Colossus’), so perhaps rides with loads of inversions and not much else just don’t really appeal to me that much?
 
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Still prefer Th13teen over Smiler this year so far. Th13teen is older, yet smoother, while Smiler was smooth and enjoyable in 2017, this year, The one ride i had has put me off for a while now. You won't see me queuing for it any time soon! Such a head rattler.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Still prefer Th13teen over Smiler this year so far. Th13teen is older, yet smoother, while Smiler was smooth and enjoyable in 2017, this year, The one ride i had has put me off for a while now. You won't see me queuing for it any time soon! Such a head rattler.
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Harder to compare though as Thirteen is a family coaster track and Smiler is a thrill inversion coaster tracker. Simple track should be smooth anyway!
 
Had plenty of visits this year to make my verdict on the coaster rankings.
1. Smiler- Unbelievable ride. Still can't believe it exists. I get so hyped like a kid every time I get on it.
2. Nemesis - top class invert and has aged very well. Happy to see towers want to preserve it by giving it a retrack
3. Wicker man- just a brilliant package. This is an experience and not just a ride
4. Rita- the underrated dark horse of towers. Short and simple but it's a decent launch and some good airtime
5. Th13teen- love the indoor section, especially when people are going on it for the first time and you see their horror
6. Galactica- tame but relaxing and pleasant ride experience
7. Oblivion- too short and just doesn't feel like it does much for me anymore
 
1. Smiler - great ride, can be bit rattily I'd argue that adds to it, it's thrilling to another level, despite what I've seen some say I love the one after the other inversions
2. Nemesis - gorgeous ride, amazing experience, I never know which way round to put Smiler and Nemesis but going off my last visit she's second
3. Galactica - indescribably good, the flying sensation is chefs kiss, the calmness compared to everything else is lovely, my first-timer friends adored it
4. Oblivion - the drop is so perfect, despite not offering much it makes up for itself, the feeling as you go down into 'Oblivion' is unmatched
5. Wicker Man - controversial but I prefer thrill to family, that being said it is such a good ride, it's such a unique experience which is what I think makes it so popular
6. Th13teen - I started questioning whether it was truly better than Rita but on my last visit I absolutely loved it, such a refreshingly chilled yet still exciting ride
7. Spinball Whizzer - nothing bad about it just no where near as good as the rest, offers a nice start for those working their way up the rides, is a great ride in general
8. Rita - I can never hate her, but I definitely think she is in the wrong place, at another park she would have so much more potential, still a great ride though slightly painful for me
9. Runaway Mine Train - not a bad ride but again not as good as the rest, good ride for families, I will still try to go on if there's time, is actually a nice ride
 
All coasters on Friday were running great, didn’t get on thirteen because of the rain and Spinball Whizzer kept opening and closing so didn’t get on that either. Wicker Man & Rita riding particularly excellently, but the others were great as well! Nemesis riding good for its age, Galactica and Oblivion great, The Smiler fab as always. 4 laps on a great ride on RMT, it’s hard to actually rank them!
 
1. Wicker Man
2. Nemesis
3. Thirteen
4. Galactica
5. RMT
6. Spinball
7. Oblivion
8. Smiler
9. Octonauts
10. Rita
 
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